Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1349602
but with bigger boosters and a fuselage that could split and rotate to create gravity. It would need a weightless cargo bay, a detachable command module, which would want a bit of a spaceplane aesthetic, and I imagined an escape capsule would be important in the future for the endgame. My initial sketches divided the cylindrical fuselage in three wedged outriggers with different habitable areas in each, but as I started laying it out, I realized that the blocking would become awkward and repetitive over several seasons with long thin single-level rooms. I played with an elliptical cross section that allowed for double height living spaces which would give much greater versatility to the blocking, but dividing the fuselage into two outriggers wasn't nearly as evocative as the original three. It was at our next lunch meeting when Dan actually suggested a tri-nodal cross section, with three half ellipses. It made for a really nicely shaped rocket and solved so many of my issues. Once I'd sketched out the new form it was time to bring on the Cunninghams…Alex Cunningham is a concept designer out of LA who worked on the exterior spaceship design, Brian Cunningham is a concept designer from Vancouver who was tasked with the interiors. Alex was a modelling machine, working in Modo, he could churn out incredibly developed 3D concepts at amazing speed, plus beautifully animated y-bys that took the visual effects team months to recreate. He says Modo is a super versatile polygon modeler with the capabilities of multiple other apps all within the one platform, and plays well with other programs and VFX. Indeed, his final model was taken by the VFX team and worked on almost as is. The modelling phase was incredibly helpful, being able to see multiple angles in 3D instead of the limited orthographics of my own sketches started to highlight some of the form issues. One of the problems working with existing rocket forms and technology is that they are all basically monolithic shapescandles ying through space. The rotating outriggers went a long way to breaking down this shape, but the rear propulsion section still felt heavy and cumbersome. Adding details C. ODYSSEY LAUNCH, DEAN WOULD REFER TO THIS AS THE FORD V FERRARI SHOT. NICKELODEON LOVED IT BECAUSE THEY COULD SEE THE KIDS IN THE COCKPIT. ILLUSTRATION BY ALEX CUNNINGHAM. D. TWO-LEVEL HALF ELLIPSE CROSS SECTION. THE "TRI- NODAL" CROSS SECTION ALLOWED TWO LEVELS IN EACH OUTRIGGER. PENCIL SKETCH. E. ALEX CUNNINGHAM'S MODEL WAS USED ALMOST AS IS BY THE VFX DEPT. TO BUILD THEIR FINAL MODEL. VFX MODEL SCREEN GRAB. C D E